The large passenger van segment in Europe shows booming growth in 2017 at +26% to just over a quarter million sales, helped by fresh product and optimistic views on the economy. The chart toppers Volkswagen Transporter T6 and its luxury derivative Multivan grow just 2% which reduces their share of the segment by 6,1 percentage points to 26,9% but is also a new annual record for the nameplate. In second place the full-sized Fiat Ducato also loses share with a 16% growth rate and sells just over half the volume of the segment leader, distancing the Mercedes-Benz V-Class in third place. Combining the V-Class with its utilitarian version Vito as VW does with its versions too (and as displayed in the graph as opposed to the table below where we split the versions for as far as we know the data), Mercedes would be in 2nd place with 53.000 sales and 21,2% share. The Renault Trafic and its sister model Opel/Vauxhall Vivaro are both up with the latter at the segment average but the former also losing share. The two latest additions to these quadruplets are the Fiat Talento and Nissan NV300, both way behind the two established iterations of the same Renault-developed van. [Read more…]

The growth of the large passenger van segment in Europe slows down but is still in double digit territory thanks to ongoing success of existing models and a rejuvenation of a number of players. A 14% growth in Q3 brings the year-to-date figure for the first nine months of 2017 to nearly 196.000 sales, up 28% on the year before. The dominant segment leaders Volkswagen Transporter T6 and its luxury derivative Multivan continue to lose share with a 1% decline in sales in the third quater and just a 3% gain so far this year. VW’s share of the segment has reduced from almost one third of the segment to just over a quarter (from 32,7% to 26,4%). They still sell over double the volume of their closest rival, which was the Fiat Ducato in Q2 and Q3 thanks to campervan sales. The Ducato improves by 17% in the third quarter to outsell the Mercedes-Benz V-Class, but not by a large margin. Its year-to-date lead is large enough to be comfortable in 2nd place, even if we know its Q4 sales are traditionally half of those in Q3. Combining sales of the luxury V-Class with those of its more utilitarian version Vito Tourer, as VW does as well, Mercedes-Benz would be in 2nd place, still almost 12.000 sales behind the segment leader. [Read more…]

Sales of large passenger vans in Europe continue their double digit growth thanks to ongoing success of existing models and a rejuvenation of a number of players. A 36% growth in Q2 brings the first half 2017 figure to 137.832 sales, up 34% on the year before. The three top sellers all grow slower than the segment and lose share but remain dominant with a combined 54,9% share (down from 68,3%). The Volkswagen Transporter T6 and its luxury derivative Multivan add just 5% to their sales of last year and lose 7,2 percentage point of market share, but still sell more than 50% more than their closest rival. Even when combining the Mercedes-Benz Vito Tourer with its luxury derivative V-Class, Volkswagen maintains a comfortable lead. And while VW may lose share, its volume is still growing despite the increased competition from the all-new PSA-Toyota vans. The Fiat Ducato reclaims the 2nd spot in Q2 as it is boosted by sales of camper vans in spring and beginning of summer, a segment in which the Ducato is ultra dominant.

Sales of large passenger vans in Europe continue their double digit growth thanks to ongoing success of existing models and a rejuvenation of a number of players. The three top sellers all grow slower than the segment and lose share but remain dominant with a combined 54,6% share (down from 68,6%). The Volkswagen Transporter T6 and its luxury derivative Multivan add just 3% to their sales of last year but still sell more than twice the volume of their closest rival. Even when combining the Mercedes-Benz Vito Tourer with its luxury derivative V-Class, Volkswagen maintains a comfortable lead. The Fiat Ducato in third place still depends on campervan conversions for most of its sales. However, the Ducato would be off the podium if we combined sales of the Renault quadruplets Trafic, Vivaro, Talento and all-new NV300.

The large passenger van segment in Europe was very dynamic in 2016, with a handful of new models entering the segment and a 21% gain in overall sales to 200.000 units, as the entire top-5 showed double digit increases. The Volkswagen T6 Transporter/Multivan stays dominant with a third of all sales in this segment. Even if we combine sales of the Mercedes-Benz V-Class and Vito (as VW also does with its Multivan and Transporter, the luxury version and the basic version), the T6 would be 20.000 units ahead of its closest rival. The Fiat Ducato holds on to its podium spot thanks to strong sales in springtime, the high season for campervans, the bulk of Ducato sales. In Q4, the Fiat was in a distant 6th place with just a fifth of its volume in Q2. The V-Class gains 29% and was the clear #2 in the last quarter, and as mentioned above, would be in 2nd place for the year as well when combined with sister model Vito.

Sales of large passenger vans in Europe are up 21% in the first nine months of 2016, after a 35% improvement in Q3. The segment outperforms the overall market at +7,5% by a large margin, as the entire top-6 shows double digit growth. The Volkswagen T6 still leads the segment with almost a third of total sales thanks to its facelift of last year. The T6 sold more than twice as many units in Q3 than any of its challengers. However, keep in mind these sales include those of the Multivan, the luxury passenger van that competes with the Mercedes-Benz V-Class. If we combine sales of the latter with those of its basic twin Vito Tourer, Mercedes would be the closest rival of VW in this segment, however still unable to touch the Transporter. The Fiat Ducato was outsold by the V-Class in Q3 but has built up a large enough advantage to keep its position by the end of the year.

Sales of large passenger vans in Europe are up 14% in the first half of 2016, outperforming the overall market at +8,8%. The #1 and #2 of the segment both improve 15%, keeping their share of the segment stable. That means the Volkswagen T6 still leads the segment with about a third of total sales thanks to its facelift of last year, followed by the Fiat Ducato with a fifth of segment sales, thanks to its popularity as a base for camper vans. In third place we find the Mercedes-Benz V-Class, the luxury version of the two Mercedes models in this segment, with sales up 41% but still far from threatening the Ducato. Even when combining the V-Class with its workhorse version Vito Tourer, Mercedes-Benz is only in 2nd place with a slim margin over the Fiat. And that’s without adding sales of the Citroën Jumper and Peugeot Boxer, of which we unfortunately don’t have specified data, but I’d have to guess it’ll be less than the 2.600 units needed for the Sevel-Sud triplets to hold on to 2nd place.

Sales of small passenger vans, called Ludospace in France, are up 9% in 2015 to 213.689 units, after spending two years below 200.000 sales. The two segment leaders Volkswagen Caddy Life and Citroën Berlingo Multispace both lose share, the Caddy is down 3% as it was being renewed at the end of 2015 and the Berlingo is up by just one percent. In third place, up from fifth, we find the Dacia Dokker thanks to a 20% increase in volume. That puts the French-Romanian budget-MPV ahead of its established cousin Renault Kangoo and the Berlingo’s clone Peugeot Partner (called Ranch in the UK).

It’s taken a while, but we can now present you the European LCV sales top-10 for 2014, following up on the 2009-2013 LCV ranking published last year. Light Commercial Vehicle sales increased 13,2% in 2014 to 1,55 million, the highest figure in the past 6 years, as a result of pent-up demand from an aging fleet as a result of postponed replacement during the crisis years. The market has slightly fragmented as the share of the top-10 brands has shrunk from 89,4% in 2013 to 88,6% in 2014.

Most LCV sales are from small, medium and large cargo vans, as pick-up trucks are much less popular in Europe than they are in the rest of the world. In France and to a lesser extent in the UK, commercial versions of passenger cars are also commonplace, but these cars are still a fraction of total light commercial vehicle sales in Europe.

Despite a gain of 9,6% and adding almost 20.000 units to its European sales, Renault has lost half a percentage point of its market share, as both Volkswagen and especially Ford improved even further. Ford is boosted by the complete renewal of its commercial van line-up, which now consists of 4 models, ranging from the small Transit Courier to the full-sized Transit. As a result, for the first time ever, three brands have sold more than 200.000 LCVs in Europe.

The large passenger van segment in Europe slows down its double digit growth in Q3 of 2015, up 8% in the quarter and still +13% year-to-date. The main reason for the slowdown is the model changeover from the Volkswagen Transporter/Multivan from the T5 generation to the T6, which causes the segment leader to lose 34% of its volume in Q3, which sets it virtually flat for the year so far. The Fiat Ducato holds on to its 2nd place, keeping the surging Mercedes-Benz V-Class at bay, even though these two models had almost identical sales in the third quarter. If we add the V-Class’s “tradesman”-version Vito Combi into the mix, the Mercedes-Benz twins outsell the Ducato to take the #2 spot. The 36% loss for the new Vito can be explained by the number of Viano sales that were included last year, from before the Viano was replace by the V-Class. [Read more…]